


Attacking from the Palm of Her Hand

by GeckoGirl89



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Angel/Cordelia Chase Subtext, Canon-Typical Violence, Choking, Death Threats, Emotional Manipulation, Episode: s03e02 That Vision Thing, Gen, Killer Visions, Lilah POV, POV Antagonist, Protective Angel, Scary Angel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 08:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11032482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeckoGirl89/pseuds/GeckoGirl89
Summary: This plan to manipulate Angel is working even better than Lilah had anticipated, but it carries risks she had not prepared herself for.





	Attacking from the Palm of Her Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the fic_promptly prompt "Author's choice, author's choice, the light touch of the other's fingers sent chills down his/her spine": http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/509437.html?view=15528445&posted=1#cmt15528445
> 
> I was inspired by that gifset on tumblr of Angel getting violently protective over Cordelia, and the prompt made me think of Lilah lightly touching Angel in that scene in her office during this episode (just before he choked her). This is my first time writing from Lilah's POV.

Wolfram and Hart needs Angel to free Billy Blim, and that requires manipulating him to the point that he will just do what she tells him to without asking too many questions.  
  
Lilah thinks that this is one of the easiest cases the firm has ever asked her to take on. The solution for how they will blackmail Angel occurs to her late at night when she's finishing up paperwork on another matter, and she chuckles to herself. _Of course._ His seer, Cordelia Chase. He did end up cutting off Lindsey's hand for her, after all. If he would radically go against his mission for anyone, it would be her.  
  
Angel startles her enough to make her jump in her chair when he comes into her office while she's playing a game of computer golf. Gavin (the little creep) gave Angel a way to bypass security, so Lilah hadn't been expecting him to get into her office without advance notice. But she had been prepared for this visit, and she isn't affected by Angel's tough guy act. She stops Angel from leaving after he passes her the coin and the key, telling him that he will complete the mission she has for him. He mentions Cordelia's manifesting visions, and Lilah knows that she has him in the palm of her hand.  
  
She circles behind him while he's staring blankly ahead, giving him feather-light touches on his shoulder and the front of his chest with her fingertips. It's a tactic, and she hopes the touches, combined with the knowledge that he has to do what she wants to stop the visions that are hurting his seer, send a tingle of fear down Angel's spine. She carelessly tosses in a quip about how the skin problems on "whatshername" were just a side effect, and that, ultimately, is her mistake.  
  
Because Lilah had been hoping to make Angel afraid. She hadn't counted on rage. He grips her throat and pulls her face close to his, and Lilah lets out a gasp of fear and pain. Angel's touch towards her is filled with the same menace hers was, but his chokehold on her throat is squeezing violently, not enough to kill her but enough to make her feel like she can't breathe.  
  
This is the scariest version of her enemy she has ever seen. The Angel who let Darla and Drusilla feast on a roomful of lawyers is nothing compared to the Angel who is pissed off at you because you threatened his seer. He won't kill Lilah, not yet, not when she still wields power over Cordelia's life. But he made it clear that he could kill Lilah for hurting Cordelia, with a soul, a smile on his face, and the certainty that he was doing the "right thing." This plan to manipulate Angel is working even better than Lilah had anticipated, but it carries risks she had not prepared herself for.  
  
He backs off and turns away once he's made his point, and Lilah needs a few seconds to stop shaking. Without looking at her, he asks where the jail cell is, and his acquiescence gives Lilah the confidence she needs to taunt him again about picking him for this mission because he is a "champion of good." She gets close to touching his shoulder again, but she doesn't, remembering vividly how he had reacted last time. Lilah would like to keep breathing for the duration of their conversation.  
  
Lilah is smug, at the end of the day, because she won and her plan worked. Angel ends up delivering Billy Blim to her, just like she knew he would. Angel is so predictable. They make their little exchange, one Cordelia Chase without killer visions for a released Billy Blim. She starts to strut off to her car.  
  
But as she's turning to walk away, Angel throws a piece of metal past her head to hit the shaman who had given Cordelia the visions. Damn, that will cost the firm. A good shaman is so hard to find these days.  
  
Lilah barely falters in her steps, but then she feels that sinister chill against her back she had felt earlier in her office. What _is it_ with vampires and sneaking up on people? It's turning into a cliché at this point.  
  
She jumps again, but Angel's sudden reappearance isn't what truly frightens her. No, it's the message he softly whispers into her ear. It's worse than a threat; it's a promise Angel would carry out if it was the last thing he could ever do. His softly spoken words are filled with cold hatred.  
  
"Don't you come at me through Cordelia ever again. You play that card a second time and I'll kill you."  
  
Lilah tries to maintain her composed facade, but as Angel stalks away towards his car, her trembling hand rises to her mouth, because she knew he meant every word of what he was saying. She won't stop fighting Angel anytime soon, but she will have to be more careful about how she does so in the future to keep her own head intact.


End file.
